Metabody

In 2015 I worked at STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music) on the European Union founded project METABODY.

I have collaborated with Marije Baalman, “Chi Ha Ucciso il Conte?” (Nicoló Merendino), and Tijmen Lohmeijer on the development of a series of foldable speakers that can be scaled from an intimate type of instrument to a large scale sounding structure.

Distributed sound reproduction with custom made speakers – exploring the concept of soft speakers – both in its material, as in the loudness of sound reproduction. We have explored the properties of the materials – the speaker is not a separate entity, but the malleable shape of the object determines the overall sound quality. The speakers are connected to small embedded microcontrollers or computers that synthesize and produce sound – thus moving away from centralized audio production and towards distributed sound production.

MODULAR FOLDABLE SPEAKERS

This work was also applied to the robotic architectures developed by the Hyperbody group of TU Delft (NL), and a choreography by Johannes Birringer.

Photo credits: Johannes Birringer 2015

Presentations:

International METABODY Forum 2015, Madrid (SP), 1-25.07.2015

DIY MICROPHONE + SPEAKER = MOLDABLE SONIC BALOON

The speakers were turned also into a microphone. We have then experimented with a moldable sonic baloon.

E-TEXTILE INSTRUMENTS

During this period, I have also collaborated in organizing a workshop about electronic-textiles and musical instrument design. We have been able to test some of our prototypes and idea into much more performative elements through the collaboration of dancers, composers, and designers.

E-TEXTILE WORKSHOP + PRESSURE COOKER (Amsterdam, 2015)

Presentations:

Sounding Textiles, STEIM (Amsterdam, NL), 6-12.04.2015

EMBEDDED SYNTHESIZER

I have also researched on designing embedded synthesizers with the Arduino environment, together with Marije Baalman who was the main responsible for the hardware development. Several examples can be found here.